Vehicle interior panels typically include a decorative aspect, providing the passenger cabin of a vehicle with a desired aesthetic. Combinations of different types of materials, textures, shapes, tactile features, and visual features can be used with such panels to provide the passenger cabin with any of a variety of different ambiences, from luxurious to utilitarian. Modern materials can be shaped into complex contoured shapes and are used extensively in vehicle interiors due to the available design freedom. Cost-reduction activities and other innovations have enabled certain aesthetic features, such as authentic or simulated cut-and-sew features and multi-colored or multi-textured decorative surfaces, to be implemented in a wider range of vehicle interiors. When it is desired to include complimentary features on adjacent but separate interior surfaces, misalignment of the features can become visually noticeable and considered defective.
Solutions for visual defects related to the appearance of adjacent interior panels have generally been limited to addressing the width of the gap between panels. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 8,282,145 to Vasko et al. discloses a vehicle interior panel assembly including first and second panels with interior and exterior surfaces. A gap is defined between opposing edges of the panels. Vasko suggests including a projection that extends from one of the panels at a position inward from the exterior surface and toward the edge of other panel to span at least a portion of the gap to hide components located behind the panels so that such components are not visible through the gap.